FBI raids home of BISD purchasing agent, former booster club president

Dan Wallac, Beaumont Enterprise

By Dan Wallach

Updated 1:08 pm, Friday, April 4, 2014

The FBI, Friday morning, searched the homes of Naomi Lawrence Lee BISD's purchasing director and William 'Bo' Kelley the former West Brook Booster Club president. A BISD officer is seen talking to someone in Lee's home. Photo taken Friday, April 04, 2014 Guiseppe Barranco/@spotnewsshooter

Photo: Guiseppe Barranco, Photo Editor

The FBI, Friday morning, searched the homes of Naomi Lawrence Lee...

The FBI, Friday morning, searched the homes of Naomi Lawrence Lee BISD's purchasing director and William 'Bo' Kelley the former West Brook Booster Club president. FBI agents are seen walking toward Alfred's home. Photo taken Friday, April 04, 2014 Guiseppe Barranco/@spotnewsshooter

Photo: Guiseppe Barranco, Photo Editor

The FBI, Friday morning, searched the homes of Naomi Lawrence Lee...

The FBI, Friday morning, searched the homes of Naomi Lawrence Lee BISD's purchasing director and William 'Bo' Kelley the former West Brook Booster Club president. A neighbor is seen watching FBI agents walking toward Alfred's home. Photo taken Friday, April 04, 2014 Guiseppe Barranco/@spotnewsshooter

Photo: Guiseppe Barranco, Photo Editor

The FBI, Friday morning, searched the homes of Naomi Lawrence Lee...

The FBI, Friday morning, searched the homes of Naomi Lawrence Lee BISD's purchasing director and William 'Bo' Kelley the former West Brook Booster Club president. Investigators are seen walking away from Lee's home. Photo taken Friday, April 04, 2014 Guiseppe Barranco/@spotnewsshooter

The feds are now at the home of former West Brook Booster Club president William "Bo" Kelley Jr., who allegedly confessed to stealing and then repaying about $32,000 from the club. Photo: Amy Moore/The Enterprise

The feds are now at the home of former West Brook Booster Club...

The FBI, Friday morning, searched the homes of Naomi Lawrence Lee BISD's purchasing director and William 'Bo' Kelley the former West Brook Booster Club president. An investigator is seen walking into Lee's home. Photo taken Friday, April 04, 2014 Guiseppe Barranco/@spotnewsshooter

Photo: Guiseppe Barranco, Photo Editor

The FBI, Friday morning, searched the homes of Naomi Lawrence Lee...

Day two of Calvin Walker's fraud trial is under way in the federal courthouse Tuesday. Beaumont Independent School District's director of purchasing, Naomi Lawrence-Lee, heads for the security entrance after the lunch break. She had been on the stand all morning mostly answering questions about checks the school district wrote to Walker, purchase orders issued for projects he completed, and invoices he had submitted to the district. Dave Ryan/
Read more: http://www.beaumontenterprise.com/news/article/Walker-trial-continues-with-testimony-about-2348535.php#ixzz1fnG5fAQ9Dave Ryan/The Enterprise

Day two of Calvin Walker's fraud trial is under way in the federal...

Beaumont attorney Mike Getz, left, briefly talks with Naomi Lawrence-Lee, assistant director of finance and purchasing for Beaumont ISD after she was served a temporary restraining order stopping any further work on the proposed district owned event center and hotel during a meeting with potential developers Wednesday at the administration office. Amy Moore/The Enterprise
Photo: Amy Moore

Beaumont attorney Mike Getz, left, briefly talks with Naomi...

Melody Chappell, left, one of the attorneys for BISD, and Naomi Lawrence-Lee, Assistant Director of Finance/Purchasing, for the district, right, wait for any more questions from everyone who attended the morning meeting. The Beaumont Independent School District held their pre-proposal conference for the hotel and event center Thursday morning for all interested parties. Dave Ryan/The Enterprise
Photo: Dave Ryan

Melody Chappell, left, one of the attorneys for BISD, and Naomi...

Naomi Lawrence-Lee, Assistant Director of Finance/Purchasing left, listens to a question from Tom Harrison, President of Allco after the meeting was over. The Beaumont Independent School District held their pre-proposal conference for the hotel and event center Thursday morning for all interested parties. Dave Ryan/The Enterprise
Photo: Dave Ryan

Naomi Lawrence-Lee, Assistant Director of Finance/Purchasing left,...

Lamar University engineers, partner company representatives and investors disclosed the details of a new prototype device, an alert system for passenger vehicles, Monday morning. William "Bo"Kelley Jr., president of Kelley Emergency Alert Systems, pressed the transmitting button to demonstrate the new receiving device which has a range of 1000 ft and was located at the other end of a long table. The innovative in-vehicle emergency alert system is a life-saving device with state, national and international potential for which a patent is now pending. The device was invented by Harley Myler, chair of the Phillip M.Drayer Department of Electrical Engineering, after Kelley came to him with his original idea. Dave Ryan/The Enterprise
Photo: Dave Ryan

Lamar University engineers, partner company representatives and...

Bo Kelley expresses his dissatisfaction with the progression of the construction of the West Brook field house at the BISD Administration Building in Beaumont, Thursday, February 23, 2012. Tammy McKinley/The Enterprise
Photo: TAMMY MCKINLEY

Bo Kelley expresses his dissatisfaction with the progression of the...

Lamar University engineers, partner company representatives and investors disclosed the details of a new prototype device, an alert system for passenger vehicles, Monday morning. William "Bo"Kelley Jr., president of Kelley Emergency Alert Systems, answered questions about the new receiving device which has a range of 1000 ft and was located at the other end of a long table. The innovative in-vehicle emergency alert system is a life-saving device with state, national and international potential for which a patent is now pending. The device was invented by Harley Myler, chair of the Phillip M.Drayer Department of Electrical Engineering, after Kelley came to him with his original idea. Dave Ryan/The Enterprise
Photo: Dave Ryan

Lamar University engineers, partner company representatives and...

Lamar University engineers, partner company representatives and investors disclosed the details of a new prototype device, an alert system for passenger vehicles, Monday morning. William "Bo"Kelley Jr., president of Kelley Emergency Alert Systems, right, talks with David Wyskiel, left, of Wyskiel Technologies, left, before the start of the press conference. The innovative in-vehicle emergency alert system is a life-saving device with state, national and international potential for which a patent is now pending. The device was invented by Harley Myler, chair of the Phillip M.Drayer Department of Electrical Engineering, after Kelley came to him with his original idea. Dave Ryan/The Enterprise
Photo: Dave Ryan

Lamar University engineers, partner company representatives and...

Lamar University engineers, partner company representatives and investors disclosed the details of a new prototype device, an alert system for passenger vehicles, Monday morning. William "Bo"Kelley Jr., president of Kelley Emergency Alert Systems, right, and Harley Myler, left, chair of the Phillip M.Drayer Department of Electrical Engineering at Lamar, left, answered questions about the new receiving device which has a range of 1000 ft. The innovative in-vehicle emergency alert system is a life-saving device with state, national and international potential for which a patent is now pending. The device was invented by Myler, after Kelley came to him with his original idea. Dave Ryan/The Enterprise
Photo: Dave Ryan

Federal law enforcement authorities are conducting a warranted search at two private residences in Beaumont this morning, but U.S. Attorney John Malcolm Bales declined to confirm or deny the nature of the investigation.

Bales said the search warrant at the home of Lawrence-Lee is based on probable cause that a witness or witnesses gave, The warrant is signed by a judge.

Kelley was accused in February of stealing and later repaying more than $30,000 from the Booster Club.

The FBI in early November, also executing a search warrant, raided the Beaumont school district administration building, carting off boxes full of records, many with names on it like "McCraney" and "Allison."

That refers to Devin McCraney, former Beaumont school district director of finance, and Sharika Allison, former comptroller.

Both were indicted in January by a federal grand jury on charges of embezzling at least $4 million from the school district during a three-year period up to October 2013.

McCraney said through his attorney this week he plans to plead guilty in federal court on April 14 to most of the charges in exchange for the government dropping a conspiracy charge against him. Allison still face trial in May.

Bales said the warranted search conducted today is not connected to the embezzling charges against McCraney and Allison.

Lawrence-Lee joined the BISD staff on July 14, 2008, after resigning as the Jefferson County purchasing agent under pressure in 2007 for misuse of public funds.